Main content | back to top
Athabasca Oil Sands Project
Oil Sands Performance Report
Canada's oil sands - Come and see for yourself...
Canada’s oil sands are an important source of energy in a world where demand is continuing to grow. At our Athabasca Oil Sands Project we mine the resource and separate the oil from the clay, sand and water before shipping it by pipeline to our Upgrader at Scotford where it is converted into synthetic crude. In 2011 it represented around 4% of our total production. We continue working to limit the environmental impact of our operations.
In This Section
The Athabasca Oil Sands Project (AOSP) joint venture (Shell 60%) has a current capacity of 255,000 b/d of synthetic crude.
Around 20% of the oil contained in the oil sands regions of Alberta is close enough to the surface for us to mine with large trucks and electric shovels.
Our Athabasca Oil Sands Project has created thousands of jobs and brings economic benefits.
We are working to reduce CO2 emissions from our oil sands operations by increasing our energy efficiency and pursuing a project to capture and store CO2.
At our oil sands mine in Canada, 80% of the water we need to separate the oil from the clay and sand comes from recycling the water we use.
The Athabasca oils sands lie in an area of Canada’s northern boreal forest that is rich in wildlife and plant species.